My mother is a biology teacher and all my life she's shown me how fascinating the natural world is. It's become a real interest for me and shapes the way I live my life. When I got married my wife and I went to kenya on safari and saw some of the most beautiful and incredible wildlife. I remembered seeing lions and elephants in the zoo with my mother telling me all about them, to see them for real in the wild was mind blowing. I vividly remember how much my mother would love to see Africa. She could make the creepy crawlies under a rotting log fascinating, I just thought how wonderful lions, leopards and so on would be for her.

She's worked hard all her life and provided very well for my brother and I, we had a great upbringing and great opportunities but they never left enough for themselves. So last year my wife and I took her to Zambia. Highlight of the trip was tracking a lioness on foot and getting to within about fifty yards of it. Being able to share the experience with her was awesome. We're lucky enough to be able to afford it and it's the best money I've ever, ever spent.

If you can, you really should spoil your mother. They deserve it

While indiscriminate spraying of DDT is obviously stupid and dangerous, the rise in worldwide malaria rates in response to the restrictions on DDTs use have killed hundreds of thousands to millions of humans.

Now, unfortunately, it's too late. Like not using all of one's prescribed antibiotics, we allowed mosquitoes to develop a resistance to DDT when we stopped using it and it doesn't work anymore (at least not as well).

By the early 1960s we had malaria cases in India down to almost zero from 75 Million in 1947. Sri Lanka went from 2.8 million cases in 1946 to 17 cases in 1963. Malaria was on the verge of extinction in these places.

Then we lost DDT thanks to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". By 1976 there were 6.4 million cases in India. Today it sits between 2 and 3 million cases a year and India is one of the luckier ones. Throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa more than 50% of all children are infected. In Zambia, in 2005, there were 1353 cases for every 1000 children under 5 years old. That means a huge percent of the children are infected more than once a year.

Was DDT dangerous to spray indiscriminately? Absolutely. Was it saving millions of lives? Without a doubt.

Ah....."modern, westernised, african culture". That burst of fresh air that produced black people disappearing during apartheid, people tortured in tanks of sulphuric acid. School children being massacred, Steve Biko, Sharperville--really wanton killing. I am also reading a book about the great job the british colonial judicial system did in Kenya called, "History of the Hanged". Among the British civilizing accomplishments there was forcing thousands of Kikuyus into concentration camps. Thousand were massacred in Nyadzonia in Mozambique, Chimoio, Zambia, innocent refugees including women and children.

Yeah, western values practiced in Africa can be called anything but brutal and inhumane. Not to mention rape. The right of a white man to rape a non-white was as sacrosanct as you say it is in "traditionalist" cultures. A good portion of the mixed population is testament to this indulgence.

It seems to me that if we want to reduce crime as well as the violent and inhumane attitudes in South Africa, western culture is the last place Africans should look.

The west institutionalized brutality against black people and de facto made rape against black women a right. Shaka didn't have anything on the British and the Dutch.

In reply to this comment by jonny:
It's certainly true that the U.S. economy has been shifting away from making stuff over the last 50 years, but it's still the case that most cities and towns in the U.S. are completely dependent on their local manufacturing base.

Oh yes that is true, that is a factor I forgot about, small scale suppliers providing for larger multinational firms. But I wonder how many of these jobs have started to be outsourced and will eventually be outsourced to places like China?

Do you think that eventually a manufacturing base in the US is sustainable in the long run?

But that doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people in the U.S. are employed in the agricultural business. Again, I was just using it as an example of producing stuff. Perhaps this points out a fundamental flaw of using GDP as a measure of a country's economic strength.

I agree that yes you have a significant population in the agricultural business, I just simply disagree with subsidization of this industry by the government. I mean post 9/11 they wanted to enforce a renamed act called something like Food Security Act that would increase subsidization of the agricultural industry in certain key states. Since most of the voters are part of those, there is large political pressure to sustain them.

Really? I was under the impression it was more the other way around, i.e., the third world nations were begging the west to stop their subsidies and "level the growing field".

Yes third world nations beg but its the first world nations that have the larger political and legal expertise in WTO negotiations, its a form of bureaucracy, so you have nations that have litte understanding of the paths or argument points that need to be made. Not to mention that the first world is always more keen about its own objectives then the development of the third world to which they are more keen to send a few million dollars in USAID. Sorry I have this big thing against western nations, aid and Africa where I lived. But its a whole another topic.

That I just have to disagree with. It is only because of political realities and labor costs, not farming practices or technology (i.e., true efficiencies). There is no way that it is more efficient to grow corn in Zambia than it is in Iowa.

But do the cost benefit analysis, third world nations that are wholly dependent on agricultural industry, have larger real estate and much lower costs of production then America. Efficiencies in the US come from economies of scale and mechanization, something that is simply lacking in other nations. But you look into FDA rules, the lax rules towards food quality, the large penetration of manufactured foods, the chicken farms that stack chickens in cages one after the other. There is a seeming problem in this. Notice how its only the first world that so far has had problems with regards to food contamination problems.

The subsidization I talked about creates further ramifications further down the line, a certain supply level is reached but the subsidization increased keep going on, you have over supply, with over supply you start dumping this production into the global market. The reason that even in Kuwait we get US apples, bananas and other exotic fruit. It's hilarious.

Ultimately, that's how a company should be run, but how many companies do you know of that have that kind of long term vision. (This is really worthy of another conversation on the ethics and ultimate sustainability of commerce. Too much to handle here.)

Oh of course, you can never expect altruistic behavior from companies, but their profit motive is an easy to read incentive. But you have the IMF which already dictates nation policy to nations to allow for better free market behavior, and yes there is exploitative behavior, but there is enormous room for growth and market formation. The reason I pretty much am planning to come back to Kuwait eventually after University, its an untapped market.

I believe that with IMF, ILO and other NGOs giving good solid economic policy advice we could have FDI into developing nations without exploitative behavior taking place that is still cost efficient to foreign companies. We haven't had much of that mostly due to that fact that these NGOs sometimes expect market knowledge and legislation to magically pop out of thin air instead of being advised.

There is already trade exploitation when you can get EU and US products in the developing world, we got Kellogg and OMO and so on. The problem I see in the developing world is that its this no possible development outlook by both citizens and firms, while the reality is that there is not motivation for FDI in these nations. Africa is always seen as this war torn cess pit of corruption, but thats media for you.

It's a complicated issue, but I still believe that there is avenues for large growth, because the more nations that become developed the more benefit is there for world wide trade as a whole. When I was in Zambia it was a perverted picture, alot of companies and NGOs entered and provided highly technological solutions to very basic problems, shock growth I would say instead of embryonic growth. You don't give powered water pumps to a nation that has no electrical power grid. You don't lie down phone lines and so on. The development profile has to be totally different for example mobile market exploded in Africa because deploying mobile towers and phones is cheaper then laying land lines. I worked with a NGO called Engineers without borders that provided basic technological solutions to problems, real bronze age stuff that could be easily built and more importantly kept up by local populace. This transmission of information is very important. But am a idealist here as well. I want to see the developing world progress, especially Africa which has seen GDP decreases since colonization ended.

I have twice personally "bailed out" close friends. I doubt it was complete ignorance, but there was certainly a lack of understanding of just how much it would cost to run up large amounts of debt.

I agree. But there is alot of access to seemingly low credit and very little knowledge being passed on about controlling run away debt. Consumerism is pushed at the American public at far higher rates then anything else, sophisticated marketing and advertising is far more alluring then sensible financial behavior. It's this consumer pressure that I disagree with, the constant psychological pressure that buying something will make you feel good, the buying for the sake of buying not because its a good product that you need. But am an idealist like that.

Of course you're right that true and fair globalization (as opposed to exploitation) is the best solution. How much luck have you had convincing your neighbors? I haven't had much.

Almost none. Its a hard topic to explain because it requires a very wide macroeconomic viewpoint instead of a localized view. I mean would say 90% of the people I knew in University on one hand wanted development in the third world but were against the implications that developing the third world would mean a short term loss of certain industries locally. But its going to happen eventually. We can't all be growing bananas.

In reply to this comment by Farhad2000:
Regarding the points you raise. The companies you mentioned are multinationals, focus on technology and R&D and are in markets that have high costs to entry (being it market capitalization, research or technology). For example Boeing's only other competitor is Airbus and they fulfill demand orders on a international scale. I think overall they constitute a small percentage of US economy because their operations are so spread around the world, problems in the US economy would affect these firms very little.

It's a bit ironic that you picked Boeing as the exemplar. I live (part time) in Huntington Beach, CA, where Boeing has a substantial presence. A couple of weeks ago, they laid off about 50 workers in this city of about 200k. But that also results in the loss of jobs in every single company that serves as a local supplier to them (tens of companies, hundreds more jobs). More to the point, I named a whole bunch of large, easily recognizable companies that make stuff, as opposed to providing services, just to point out that manufacturing is alive and well in the U.S. It's a well propagated myth that the U.S. doesn't do manufacturing anymore, which Jake bought right into. Trust me, I've lived in a half dozen cities across the U.S. over the last decade, and every single one of them had a substantial manufacturing base. It's certainly true that the U.S. economy has been shifting away from making stuff over the last 50 years, but it's still the case that most cities and towns in the U.S. are completely dependent on their local manufacturing base.


Agriculture is a thorny issue

The thorniest. Twenty thousand years ago when humans first started domesticating plants, that's what they fought over. And we still do. The only thing we fight over more now is decayed plants.

since much of it both in the US and EU is sustained via massive subsidization and are controlled by large firms which enjoy massive economies of scale. Their lobbying towards the US government means they have favorable market conditions in the states, they price their products higher then the world market and the US consumer ends up paying for that.

But that doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of people in the U.S. are employed in the agricultural business. Again, I was just using it as an example of producing stuff. Perhaps this points out a fundamental flaw of using GDP as a measure of a country's economic strength.

Many of the trade disagreements brought up in the WTO by 1st world nations focus on suppressing 3rd world agricultural markets because the western world cannot compete on price and cost.

Really? I was under the impression it was more the other way around, i.e., the third world nations were begging the west to stop their subsidies and "level the growing field".

It's simply cheaper to produce agriculture in the 3rd world. Globalization must be pushed to happened in this sector strongly as right now it penalizes the consumers, sustains an inefficient producer (when looked globally) and suppresses growth in the third world which wholly depends on Agriculture.

That I just have to disagree with. It is only because of political realities and labor costs, not farming practices or technology (i.e., true efficiencies). There is no way that it is more efficient to grow corn in Zambia than it is in Iowa.


This is why you have all those "Free Trade" products being sold all over the place, like coffee beans for example. I would love to see a globalization effort on behalf of large US manufacturers through foreign direct investment in third world economies.

Woah - now you're scaring me. That sounds like multinationals moving into local areas to exploit local resources - fresh water access, etc. I'm pretty sure I know you well enough to know that's not what you mean. But dig deeper - you are suggesting that profit motivated companies would somehow be interested in the welfare of the residents of the local areas in which they operate. Ultimately, that's how a company should be run, but how many companies do you know of that have that kind of long term vision. (This is really worthy of another conversation on the ethics and ultimate sustainability of commerce. Too much to handle here.)

I totally agree on personal debt problems, there is too much runaway consumerism while the middle class has been diminishing, you have too many falling down in the lower classes and not many coming into the middle class. Now republican usually state that tax cuts would elevate this but I disagree, there is very little financial advice and a general air get rich quick behavior in the US, especially leverage and bombardment of the consumer through what seem like seductive credit card offers that have huge monthly payment penalties and interest rate increases. I mean you can get a credit card from almost anyone now in the US. There is a lot of predatory lending behavior in the credit card industry and not enough good information on the topic. I think some sort regulation and institutions that normalize run away debt is in order.

I disagree with you on some of this, and completely agree otherwise. Rampant consumerism is not the problem. Nor is even ridiculously available credit (at least until recently) the problem. It really is an issue of education. As you say, most people in the U.S. (and I think probably most people around the world) don't understand the first thing about finances. And I'm not just talking about average joe. I wasn't fooling around when I said on Joe's blog that I have been privileged to know some of the smartest people on the planet. I really have - and a few of them could barely balance a checkbook. Seriously. I know that sounds absurd, but it's true. I have twice personally "bailed out" close friends. I doubt it was complete ignorance, but there was certainly a lack of understanding of just how much it would cost to run up large amounts of debt.



But again there are so many layers and layers of complexity with any of these topics and some time your viewpoint really depends on your economic background and beliefs, I am a strong believer in world trade and globalization. I do admit there are lots of growing pains and problems in its implementation. It's easy to say the US economy needs to focus more on services and R&D but its not possible. I remember one woman I debated about agricultural markets got offended when I said that farmers in Canada are inefficient and are holding back agricultural market development in the developing world.

No doubt the layers of complexity are lost many folks. It does almost require someone who is independently wealthy that can spend a lifetime studying these topics to really get a handle on it. But, of course, if you are one of those people, you are instantly labeled an elite, out-of-touch, ivory tower geek. Can't win for losing, eh?

Of course you're right that true and fair globalization (as opposed to exploitation) is the best solution. How much luck have you had convincing your neighbors? I haven't had much.

1. I have lived through a coup attempt in Zambia, perpetuated by a military officer who called himself Captain Solo. Which was the name of a cheap straight to VHS movie that was shown on local TV just a week before.

2. I have lived through Gulf War 2 in March of 2003. Everyone assumed we would die in Kuwait because Iraq was going to use chemical, biological and possibly nuclear SCUD warheads. I felt sorry for all the troops forced to put on their MOPP suits every time there was an alarm. It was surreal.

3. I nearly got kidnapped in a car in Lusaka, a car thief was trying to break into our car while I was sleeping in the back. I stopped him by locking down the doors fully before his hanger wire could decouple it. He looked at me with accusing eyes like I just took candy from a child.

4. I learnt English entirely by sound and watching American movies. My entire grammar structure is based around what sounds right. As such I used to have a very American accent.

5. I was born Muslim but only ever practiced it culturally. I went to the mosque only once before realizing I could not be a servant to any god because am simply too lazy to give a shit either way.

6. I spent most of my early childhood on my uncle's farm, raising chickens, doing masonry work and harvesting potatoes. This experience has made me humble.

7. I cannot live in comfort in my country because I have severe life threatening allergies to its environment.

8. I nearly drowned as a child at a water park when I got sucked in the water intake for the slipping slide ride. I vividly remember how it felt looking up through the water up at big African man who was drying himself near the pool. He jumped in and saved me. I was so scared I never got to look at his face or thank him. I regret this.

9. Africa was the best place I have lived in. Its more beautiful then most people realize. The people are in desperate poverty but are gentle and kind. You will never see more beautiful clouds anywhere else.

10. I have a purple belt in Karate that I got as a kid. I think it's totally useless and has no baring on any combat ability I have.

11. I used to stay up late at night in high school watching MTV Europe, MTVChillout and MTVAlternative nation, back when it was good.

12. Kuwait proved to me that money does not buy happiness nor does wealth make people better individuals.

13. My favourite city will always be Montreal. I had the best and worst of times there.

14. I do alot of drugs. Most of the time I don't look for a high. I look for relief. Its quite healthy for my psyche. I like psychedelics and exploring the limits of my psyche. I like to disassociate.

15. I have a heart problem and in all likely hood will die prematurely. This doesn't bother me that much.

16. I have been arrested while being high on mushrooms, the experience was surreal and hilarious and depressing all at once. My arresting officer was the splitting image of Spud from Trainspotting.

17. Deja vus scare and confuse me.

18. I been to more countries then I care to mention. People are really all the same all over.

19. I love music, I have music collection I have maintaining since middle school. I will be very sad to lose it. I love only particular songs and moments, its hard for me to say I like any particular artist. The question what is your favourite genre of music always troubles me, its hard to pick one. Alot of my music I listen to in particular moods. I would be the first person to implant a music player into my brain.

20. I love cinema, I think cinema is humanity reflected, our dreams, desires, hopes, fears and experiences.

21. I wish I could stop being so cynical.

22. I don't know what to do with my life.

23. I used to go to the roof of my building in Africa and sleep under a full starry sky. Trying to pick out the satellites.

24. Life is hard to take seriously, I feel like I have been here before, and did all this before. I expect to wake up any minute now.

25. I feel like I shared too much.

Favourites

1) Season - Autumn
2) Place in the world - Livingstone, Zambia.
3) Children's book - Guards! Guards! Guards! by Terry Prachett
4) TV Series - The wire, BSG, mad men and the x files.
5) Word - Clover Gs (don't ask)
6) Film - Bladerunner and there is alot more...
7) Curse - fuck
Creature - chameleon
9) Past time - gaming and ill informed political banter
10)Person - my buddy.

Which one?

11) Dog or cat - cats
12) Sweet or savoury - savory
13) Cereal or Toast - toast?
14) Tan or pale - both in equal measure
15) Shoes or barefoot - shoes?
16) Desktop or laptop - desktop
17) Drive or walk - walk
18) Drama or comedy - sci fi
19) Sex or food - yes
20) Futurama or Simpsons - both jumped the shark.

The Sift

21) Your fave personal submission - all my videos are favourite submissions, but my Luna playlist has my fav muscial picks.
22) A great comment on one of your vids - The whole Andres Segovia comment thread! DOWN WITH JAKE SIKAKAKBURORMO!
23) Most off the wall member - choggie
24) Favourite user name - plastiquemonkey
25) Your most used channel - music and obscure
26) Personal dumbass moment - sifting and commenting drunk, then waking up reading what I wrote.
27) Best avatar - Rickegee and Ravenika.
28) Partner in crime - Mink and Kulpims. The Eastern European Mafia.
29) Do people offline know of your sift problem - Not really. I kinda dropped the habit.
30) Idea for the site - The LONG FUCKING CHANNEL ironically we waited a LONG time for it too.

About you

31) Where do you live - Kuwait
32) Smoker/non-smoker - occasionally
33) Left or right handed - right
34) Hair colour - black?
35) Relationship status - single
36) How tall - 5 '4
37) Children - no
38) Ever had an operation - Yes, I enjoyed the drugs alot.
39) Best feature - I guess it's interesting to talk to me?
40) Use four words to describe yourself - nomad, aware, misanthrope

If you could...what, who, when etc

41) Bring a famous person back from the dead - Martin Luther King
42) Give 50 grand to any charity - Amensty International
43) Send someone on a one way ticket to the moon - Everyone...
44) Relive a moment in your life - My trip to Turkey.
45) Have a superpower - cloaking
46) Find out one thing you've always wanted to know -
47) Have the opposite gender deal with something you have to - crazy irrational emotionally unstable women.
48) Be president for one hour - Dissolve the Fed. open all state secret archives from 2000 down.
49) Delete a period in history - Bush's presidency.
50) Achieve one thing - Learn to fly a helicopter.

My name is Farhad. I was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a country in Central Asia. Post collapse of the USSR, my family moved to Zambia in Africa. We stayed there for 9 years before moving to Kuwait where I completed my High school. In 2003 I went to Montreal, Canada for a Economics degree, however after 4 years it was not something that I really enjoyed so I decided to leave to take up a job in the IT field before making up my mind about were else to go later.

I work for a company in the Web Development and IT Support fields, my interests however extend out to video editing, graphical design and computer gaming. I enjoy history, economics, politics and military strategy. You can find me in Kuwait reading a Harpers Magazine looking pissed off at the general population.

Victoria falls is awesome. I never got the guts to go to the safe pool zone, because frankly am not mental, the Zambezi's river happens to be full of crocodiles who very often fall over the side of the falls. I did white water rafting right below and after the falls and it's one of the best experiences of my life.

Standing on the sides you get a gush of fine misty rain that forms countless rainbows, and is cool to the skin. The locals actually call it Mosi-A-Tunya, which means the cloud that thunders, as you can hear the falls way before you can see it. It is also the name of Zambia's beer, which is piss poor unfortunately

The coolest thing is being right below the falls, you can actually walk up to the edge and see the huge tornado like vortex of falling water that forms below, its astounding, a tour guide said that its possible to fall into it and remain submerged for nearly 2 years as water keeps falling.

Ah Zimbabwe, my family went there back in the early 90s on a trip from Zambia. Historically both were British colonies, Zambia was used for resource extraction while Zimbabwe was heavily developed and populated they were known as Northern and Southern Rhodesia back then.

Crossing the borders from Zambia to Zimbabwe was like going from Eastern Berlin to Western Berlin during the Cold war, Zambia became independent in 1964 and followed a socialist government structure for a long time, while Zimbabwe became independent in 1984 and was very well settled economically, owing alot to many colonists that choose to stay, settle and become Zimbaweans injecting the country with western knowledge that at the time was lacking.

There were paved European style roads (not potholed warzone driveways), parking meters, public swimming pools, parks, alots of shops filled with goods, alot of services, vibrant local development, economic devleopment was strong, agriculture was strong and the standard of living fairly high.

However all that collapsed the moment Robert Mugabe started overstaying his welcome as president, and started to incite racial politics to retain power by taking away white farm land (which employed and provided economically far more) and giving it over to so called war veterans (basically squatters) who didn't know the first thing about farming, leading to economic ruin since the agriculutral market simply collapsed and it was the driving force of the rest of the economy. Many people who had been settled choose to simple vacate their lands.

Its really sad.

Great post!

I watched this right when I came to Zambia, it was hilarious, always brings back memories.

You weren't pokin fun at ole swampy were ya?

In reply to your comment:
“I used to watch this. Because Zambia could only afford cartoons from the 60s.”

Hey go and read what i wrote on this post you commented on.....http://animation.videosift.com/video/Iron-Man-ThemeIntro-196667-Marvel-Comics-Cartoon#159512

In reply to your comment:
“I used to watch this. Because Zambia could only afford cartoons from the 60s.”

I used to watch this. Because Zambia could only afford cartoons from the 60s.

Greenpeace is a retarded naive and evil organization that wants to keep people poor.
They say they want a better environment and that we should pollute less. But they don't want nuclear power. They only want solar which is nowhere near being economically viable. But this is just naivety.
The absolute worst thing is their anti genetically modified food stance. You know they actually convinced Zambia to reject food aid because it was GM. They also oppose golden rice with extra vitamins that would reduce blindness and other diseases in Asia. They oppose the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is like they want the third world to starve. Which they probably do because it would help the rain forest.
They want everyone to do organic farming. This is ridiculous as it would require much more land to feed people which mean much more clearcutting of forests to support agriculture.
They oppose more development in developing countries like opposing mining and logging. These are the natural recourses of these countries and they have every right to use them. We got rich by exploiting our natural recourses so why shouldn't they?
Greenpeace can complain about their little things and be against poor people developing while most of them and their members are really rich and have comfortable lives..